Nokia files patent lawsuits against HTC, RIM, ViewSonic

Are there any large tech companies that aren’t involved in patent lawsuits these days?

Finnish phonemaker Nokia has filed patent-infringement lawsuits against HTC, Research In Motion and ViewSonic.

“We have already licensed our standards essential patents to more than 40 companies,” Nokia said in a news release. “Though we’d prefer to avoid litigation, Nokia had to file these actions to end the unauthorized use of our proprietary innovations and technologies, which have not been widely licensed.”

Nokia filed complaints against HTC with the U.S. International Trade Commission; against HTC and ViewSonic in the U.S. District Court of Delaware; against HTC and RIM in the Regional Court in Dusseldorf, Germany; and against all three companies in the Regional Courts in Mannheim and Munich, Germany.

In total, 45 Nokia patents are in suit in one or more of the actions, the company said.

Nokia is Microsoft’s closest manufacturing partner for Windows Phone. Nokia has committed to using the Windows Phone operating system as its primary smartphone platform.

We’ve asked Nokia and Microsoft if the suits involve Windows Phones and will post here when we hear back.

[Update 10:29 a.m.: Microsoft referred inquiries to Nokia, as it is a Nokia suit. Nokia sent the following statement:

We are seeking to end the unauthorized use of our innovations and so we have not excluded any infringing devices from the claims. However, we are not asserting patents against the Windows Phone platform. Though Nokia supports the growth of the Windows Phone ecosystem, we would like our competitors to participate based on their own technologies rather than copying ours.]

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Welcome to Microsoft Pri0: That's Microspeak for top priority, and that's the news and observations you'll find here from Seattle Times technology reporter Matt Day. Send tips or comments to mday@seattletimes.com.